“When I gave up everything, from that point on he had me completely under his control. It started with a shove, then a kick, and then it got worse and worse.” A woman escapes an abusive relationship and encounters a system that ignores her cries for help. Through dance, animated passages, unflinching interviews with experts from real-life practice and off-camera narration by Sandra Hüller, the hidden power structures behind domestic violence are exposed.

FASSADEN is not a film that is easy to consume – it is a challenge for the audience. Domestic violence and the associated statistics are brutal, shocking and physical. The director reflects all of this in an idiosyncratic, radical form. A brilliantly realised piece of work: uniquely structured, with an original approach to editing and told in an extremely moving manner.

Alina Cyranek works as an author, director and producer. In her films, she mainly deals with socio-political issues. In addition, she works as a content creator for the MDR short film magazine “unicato” and for the ARTE program “Kurzschluss”. She studied at the TU Dresden and completed a double master’s degree in media art at Bauhaus University Weimar and Tongji University Shanghai focussing on documentary and experimental film. In 2018, she co-founded hug films GbR with animation artist Falk Schuster.

Filmography (selection): 2012 FRACTURED, 2014 FADING (both short films), 2016 EIN HAUFEN LIEBE (documentary), 2024 DIE KURVE (short film), 2025 FASSADEN

Awards: Best Documentary Award (Filmkunstfest MV, Schwerin/Germany 2025)